Calculation of the polarization fraction and electron-impact excitation cross sectionfor the Cd+ (5 p) 2 P3/2 state

Abstract

We present relativistic convergent close-coupling and Breit-Pauli R-matrix calculations for the polarization of the light emitted after electron-impact excitation of the (5s)2S1/2→(5p)2P3/2 transition in Cd+. While we find consistency between the theoretical predictions, a discrepancy persists with the measurements of Goto et al. [Phys. Rev. A 27, 1844 (1983)]. Cascade contributions and hyperfine depolarization effects were calculated and found to have negligible effect on the polarization fraction. We also present angle-integrated cross sections for the (5p)2P3/2 state to compare with the measurements of Gomonai [Optc. Spect. 94, 488 (2003)]. Agreement between theory and experiment is far from perfect, especially at low energies, where they disagree both in the absolute values and the energy dependence of the cross sections.